Barbara J. Park

Our grieving hearts are grateful that she is freed from the earthly restrictions disease had placed upon her. But oh how we will miss her!

Barbara was bon Nov. 30, 1932, in Pocatello, to Ray and Dorothy Shurtliff, but lived most of her adult life in Lewiston. She and her husband, Frank Eugene "Bus" Park, would have been married 65 years on March 24 of this year. They met when Barbara was 14 years old and married four years later, after both had graduated from Nampa High School and Frank was attending college in Lewiston. They lived in San Antonio; Anchorage, Alaska; Elgin, Ore.; and Potlatch before returning to Lewiston to stay in 1966.

Barbara began attending the University of Idaho to study elementary education while her three daughters were young. She graduated from Lewis-Clark State College in 1970 and was immediately hired by the Lapwai School District. Barbara taught second and third grades for 22 years before reluctantly retiring and saying goodbye to a career, children and community she had loved so much. Her later years were spent with her husband traveling to such places as Branson, Mo., Hawaii, the Bahamas and Spain, but mostly visiting her children and their families, which brought her her greatest joy.

Barbara was a dedicated and talented teacher and loving mother, wife and friend. Her family never had a car while she was growing up, so she didn't learn to drive until after her girls were born. She was an avid reader and great cook, wrote poetry in high school, learned to play the guitar as an adult and became not only a breast cancer survivor at age 41, but later overcame a collapsed lung, back surgery, gall bladder removal and a broken hip. Her children and grandchildren remember how they loved to talk and laugh with her, often into the late hours of the night. She was unselfish, kind, fun to talk to and generous. In her last years, she enjoyed taking a car ride through the countryside almost every night with Frank as they looked for deer and other critters.

Barbara is survived by her husband, Frank, the love of her life. She is also survived by her children, Babzanne and Bruce Barker of Littleton, Colo., Linda and Mike Merrell of St. George, Utah, and Robin and Sandee Stevenson, also of St. George. She leaves behind 17 grandchildren and their spouses, Aspen South and Corey Shamblin, Vince and Meagan Merrell, Annie and Russ Squire, Kristin and Chuck Reems, Sasha Merrell and Riley Harrison, and Mickala Merrell, Jacob Stevenson, Jamie and Ty Wakefield, Scott and Tosha Stevenson, Paul and Madison Stevenson, and Nate Stevenson, Kristalyn and David Ford, Diana and Brandon Bronson, Cindy and A.J. Maudsley, Daniel and Charbel Barker, Katie and Forrest Clark, and Michael Barker. Her 36 great-grandchildren called her GG, and as the Alzheimer's progressed, their presence always made her smile and brought her peace. They include Mason, Carter Hudson, Kacianna, Mckynzie, Adalyn, Alexis, Tori, Levi, Scarlett, Lyla, Phoebe, Benji, Liam, Jack, Oliver, Kylie, Sadie, Brynlie, Brooke, Tyler, Hudson, Ramsi Lin, Teya, Taylor, Zach, Zoey, Zane, Lydia, Drake, Brielle, Jett, Maren, and Taleah, Slade, Tait and Sloan.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents; her sister, Suzanne Trujillo; and her youngest daughter, Kristin Park Santos.

Barbara was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was sealed in the Vernal Temple to Frank in 2001. The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Lewiston Third Ward Stake Center, Ninth Street and Preston Avenue. Viewing and visitation will be held from noon until 12:45 p.m. Burial will be at the Normal Hill Cemetery immediately following the funeral.

The family would like to express its heartfelt thanks to Pat Fowler and the Golden Girls Residential Care Center for the exceptional care and compassion Pat and her staff gave Barbara since she became a resident there in early December, and also to the extremely caring St. Joseph Regional Medical Center Hospice.